Waterlogged
by Driftingthought
Summary: Butch and Cassidy aren't like normal Team Rocket operatives.  They can be quite brutal.  Who'll save Ash this time?  His rival, of course!  One-shot.


**Disclaimer: I don't own the wonderful anime/manga Pokémon.**

**A/N: Written in February 2009. Please read, rate, and review!**

**Rated K+ for some intense images.**

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><p><strong>Waterlogged<strong>

Ash walked along the outskirts of Viridian City, looking at the beauty of a newborn spring.

"Wow Pikachu, it's so beautiful out here, I wonder if I'll be able to catch any Pokémon," Ash said, looking around. He had left all his Pokémon except Pikachu at the Viridian City Pokémon Center. Suddenly, a Drowzee came out of the bushes. "Wow Pikachu! I wonder if I'll be able to catch that Pokémon! Uh, what's wrong Pikachu?" Ash asked. Pikachu was sending sparks into the air, and he looked and sounded very angry.

"Pika pi chu!" Pikachu shouted.

"What do you mean that's not a wild Pokémon?" Ash asked.

"You're very smart, twerp," Cassidy laughed as she and Butch emerged out of the bushes. "Drowzee use Hypno Wave and bring Pikachu toward us!" Pikachu immediately ran toward Cassidy and let her pick up him, as if he had been her Pokémon for a long time. She quickly put Pikachu into a metal cage.

"Pikachu!" Ash shouted.

"You might as well give up, since there isn't anything you can do," Cassidy sneered.

"Now that we have all the twerp's Pokémon, what are we going to do with him?" Butch asked.

"Oh don't worry, we'll get rid of him," Cassidy said, enlarging a Poké Ball and throwing it into the air. "Raticate, attack!" Cassidy commanded.

Raticate ran toward Ash, and Ash had no other choice then to run away from them, hearing them laughing for a distance.

How long Ash ran he didn't know, when suddenly, he came on a cliff with a huge lake at the bottom. The Raticate advanced slowly on Ash, as he tried to back up without falling. Suddenly, the ground under Ash collapsed. He tried to slow himself, but failed in the processes. His head scraped painfully against the side of the cliff face. He was about to hit the water when he heard a crack, and white-hot pain shot through his right leg. He hit the water with a splash. He fought to stay conscious, but the pain was too much. His vision was slowly darkening. . .

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><p>Gary Oak of Pallet Town strolled along the path of Viridian City Forest, with not a care in the world. He was about to let out his Pokémon when suddenly, a Raticate came out of the bushes and tackled him.<p>

"What are you doing?" Gary shouted. Before Gary could even blink, the Raticate took two of his Poké Balls, and ran back into the bushes. "Hey, come back here!" Gary yelled. Then suddenly, he saw none other then Team Rocket, taking a balloon up into the air.

"Oh you are very gullible," Cassidy laughed, as the balloon started to drift toward Rock Ledge Lake.

"Come back here!" Gary shouted, running after the balloon. He made it to the edge of the lake. He about to release a Poké Ball to continue his pursue when he saw none other then Ash Ketchum in the water. He looked again at the balloon, and quickly let out his Fearow.

"Fearow, go attack that balloon, and don't come back until you got the two Poké Balls that Team Rocket took, okay?" Gary questioned. His Fearow looked at him quizzically, when the Pokémon saw that his trainer wasn't coming, but didn't reply as it took off into the air.

Team Rocket had been floating toward their secret hideout for awhile undisturbed, so you can imagine their surprise when a Fearow suddenly came into view.

"What is this Pokémon doing here?" Cassidy screamed, as she tried to fight off the Fearow that was attacking their balloon. "Drowzee, quick! Use Psywave!" the Pokémon did a slow dance as his eyes turned white, then sent a beam of white light toward his opponent. Fearow screeched as the attack hit him full in the chest, knocking him out. He quickly plummeted toward the earth like a stone.

"Quick! Use the Pokémon catcher!" Butch shouted. Cassidy nodded and picked up something that looked like a bazooka. She quickly fired the gun, and a net sprang out of it, wrapping Fearow up so that he couldn't move. There was a rope attached to the net, so they quickly pulled up the Fearow and looked at their catch.

"One Pikachu, one Fearow, and two Poké Balls," Cassidy laughed, landing the balloon next to their secret hide-out, which was actually an abandoned building. "Come on, lets go contact the Boss."

Meanwhile, Gary Oak was still waiting for Fearow to return. He sighed then suddenly remembered who was in the water, and smirked."Never thought I'd see great Ash Ketchum doing the dead man's float!" Gary shouted, loud enough for Ash to hear him.

But the problem was, that Ash didn't move, he didn't even stir. "Hey Ash!" Gary shouted again. Gary then noticed blood around Ash's body. Icy realization hit him. Ash wasn't swimming, he was _drowning_ and he might even be dead. Gary didn't even think as he slipped off his shoes and plunged into the frigid water. It seemed to take Gary ages to finally reach Ash, but when he did, he noticed that Ash was in much worse trouble then he had expected. Blood was welling up around a nasty wound on his head. When he flipped Ash onto his back, he noticed that Ash wasn't breathing. He quickly felt Ash's chest and relaxed when he felt a steady heartbeat. He then put his arm underneath Ash's arm and swam toward land. Suddenly, Gary realized that if Ash didn't start breathing by the time they got back to land, he would have to perform CPR on Ash.

_CPR? _Gary thought. He didn't even know what CPR meant! How then could he even begin to perform this lifesaving technique? The land came all too quickly. Gary hauled Ash up to flat ground then flipped him onto his back. It was as though he was acting on instinct as he started to push hard on Ash's stomach. No response after a minute. "Come on! You _have_ to wake up!" Finally, after what seemed like ages, Ash twitched, and immediately coughed up a mouthful of water.

"Ugh, my head. What happened?" Ash moaned.

"Nothing really," Gary answered, wrapping cloth from his pack around Ash's head.

"Pikachu!" Ash suddenly shouted. "I have to get him back from Team Rocket!" Ash tried to get up, but cried out when a fierce pain shot through his leg.

"No, you have to rest," Gary insisted. "We'll wait two hours, then maybe we can go."

"You are you to tell me what to do?" Ash retorted, massaging his leg.

"You don't have any Pokémon to take you anywhere," Gary answered. "They took my Pokémon, too, and I don't think you'll get very far with that leg." Gary rummaged in his pack, found a pair of crutches, and gave them to Ash.

"What are these for?" Ash asked.

"They're for walking when you have a broken leg. You use them like this," Gary replied, picking up the crutches and walking around easily, pretending he had a broken leg. Gary leaned back against a nearby tree. "Well? Let's see you try them out," Gary said, his eyes glinting mischievously.

Ash got up, grabbed the crutches, and took one step, only to land face first in the dirt. He heard Gary laughing and felt his face burning up.

"They're hard to use at first, but you'll eventually get the hang of it," Gary spoke, still laughing.

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><p>Two agenizing hours later, Gary checked on Ash again, to find that he was in no better shape than before. Gary knew that if he said no, Ash would just insist to leave right then, so he decided, to his great disapproval, to allow Ash to have what he said he'd been deprived of for the last two hours. Freedom.<p>

"Lucky, that Raticate didn't take these two Pokémon." Gary said, enlarging two Poké Balls and throwing one at Ash. Both Poké Balls exploded to show a Houndoom and an Arcanine. "Houndoom, let Ash on your back," Gary commanded. Ash warily, slowly, and with great difficulty climbed onto Houndoom. "Okay then," Gary said, leaping up onto Arcanine.

"Uh, Gary?" Ash asked.

"What?" Gary replied.

"I know this may sound kinda stupid, but how are we going to find Pikachu and your Pokémon?" Ash wondered.

"Wow, you must be really stupid, Ash," Gary laughed, watching Ash flush with anger.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ash retorted, wishing he had Pikachu with him so he could give Gary a good shock.

"You know your Pokédex, right?" Gary asked, flipping his open.

Ash nodded.

"Well, there is a tracking mechanism on every single Poké Ball that has ever been produced. Whenever you capture a Pokémon, the Pokémon's data is stored in the Pokédex, and as soon as the Pokémon's data is stored, it automatically gets a number. I think I have Poké Ball numbers 10,000-10,150 or something like that. All you have to do to track it is enter it's number like so," Gary said, rapidly pressing buttons on his Pokédex. "See, there's the tracking device," Gary said, showing it to Ash.

Ash nodded again, but then his heart sunk as he remembered that the tracking device for _his _Pokémon would never work, since he always kept Pikachu out of his ball.

Gary quickly looked at the Pokédex screen, then quickly pocketed it.

"Let's go!" Gary shouted.

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><p>"Hey, Cassidy, do you think we should worry about those twerps?" Butch asked.<p>

"I wouldn't sweat it," Cassidy said, leaning backwards and releasing Drowzee. "Those kids probably can't harm a fly. Besides, the Boss is going to be here very soon."

Both Team Rocket operatives jumped as the wall behind them exploded.

"Don't think you can get away with taking our Pokémon so easily! Arcanine, use Skull Bash!" Gary shouted, leaping off Arcanine. With a ferocious roar, Arcanine knocked Drowzee into the air, and hit him with a fire blast. He soared backward, and crashed into Team Rocket. Arcanine then used a second fire blast to throw them into a propane tank, causing a deafening explosion.

"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!" they yelled as they soared into the distance. Ash quickly ran over and released Pikachu from the cage.

"You were great, Arcanine!" Gary yelled, running up and petting him. Arcanine bowled Gary over, and licked every inch of him. After the congratulations were over, Gary retrieved his Poké Balls. He then walked out of the building, with Ash following close behind.

"Hey, uh, that was some really good fighting back there," Ash said.

"Thanks," Gary replied.

They then exchanged good byes and left.

Gary walked on, congratulating Arcanine once again, returning his Pokémon, and smiling. He knew that the next time he met Ash they would have a Pokémon battle, and with all his Pokémon, Gary knew, that he _would _win, and Ash would _have_ to admit defeat.

*The End*


End file.
